Shopping in Sham Shui Po

For a long time in Hong Kong we've been hearing about this semi-mystical place called Sham Shui Po where you can get all these wonderful things like haberdashery items, decorations, film props, cheap clothes and much much more. Spurred on by the need to find decorations for our upcoming Sexy Xmas party, we finally took to the MTR to venture out there (full disclosure: we don't venture Kowloon-side as often as we should). We got there earlyish at about 11am when some of the street stallholders were still setting up their stalls and when the streets were still pretty empty. We headed first for Fuk Wing Street which is a treasure trove for all things Christmassy: baubles, tinsel and fake trees galore, and all at wholesale prices so there's not a lot of room to bargain. Despite our lack of Canto-speaking we were able to find kind people on the street who took pity on us and helped us arrange delivery of all our purchases to the Island with the shopkeeper - essential if you're going to keep on shopping!

Leaving Fuk Wing we headed to Nam Cheong Street passing TONS of clothes stores where we glimpsed reasonable looking knitwear and exercise gear (including yoga tops and leggings) and arrived in the haberdashery area which is around 100 Nam Cheong Street. Piling into the tiny stores we were thrilled to discover all manner of trims, ribbons and exciting items, like fully-beaded bib necklaces of the kind that you'd buy in a boutique in Central, and patches and badges to sew onto jackets. We picked up some necklaces and beaded belts which were not originally on the shopping trip but which just had to be got, and then ended up wandering along Cheung Sha Wan Road which was full of even more clothes shops stocking kids fashions. We saw some items that we've bought in Stanley Market for nieces, nephews and god children back home for literally a fraction of the price.

The shops aren't exactly set up for retail customers, so be prepared to have a bit of a rummage, and you will also need to be quite assertive when it comes to finding the shopkeeper to find out prices. If you can handle this though, you're sure to find some great bargains for your Christmas shopping, and you don't even need to venture over the border!

Our favourite store was:

Hang Yip Garment Accessories Company

G/F 108A Nam Cheong Street

Sham Shui Po, Kowloon

(exit B2 from Sham Shui Po MTR station will take you to Fuk Wa and Fuk Wing Streets).